What a lucky world!

Chapter 86 Wan'an Disaster!

Zhang Mu felt bad when he saw the old man, who used to be so strict and polite that he would only use ordinary tea from his collection to entertain guests, crying like a helpless child in his arms.

After some comfort, Zhang Mu finally understood the whole story.

It turned out that after the demon disaster, hunters no longer dared to go out hunting, which also led to a shortage of raw materials for Shi Chunjie's butcher shop, so Zheng the butcher simply closed the shop.

However, the price of grain in the county town soared, and the Shi family's life became unsustainable. In order to earn money to buy grain, Shi Chunjie followed a few fearless hunters out of the city to hunt, but was killed by a monster.

There is an unpredictable situation in the sky, and people will be banished.

Zhang Mu didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only say a few words of comfort, personally sent Shi Yansheng back to his residence, and left some silver.

He originally thought that the situation would be better after entering the city, but what Zhang Mu saw in the city was still a scene of depression. The shops were all closed and locked, and there were many people selling their children on the street. From time to time, he could see some people robbing property, but the yamen runners just stood by and watched coldly without stopping them.

"How could it become like this?" Zhang Mu murmured.

He clearly remembered that when he left Wan'an County less than a month ago, although Wan'an County was not prosperous, it was a place where people could live and work in peace and contentment. How could it become so unfamiliar in the blink of an eye?

"It's all because of the demonic calamity." Chunxi, who also came from a poor family, felt sympathetic when he saw Zhang Mu sighing. He said softly, "Some time ago, everyone was jumping on the silver bandwagon and exchanging their belongings for silver."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mu immediately remembered the scholar he had met before, who had explained to him what the silver tide was.

Simply put, because the autumn tax was imminent, the imperial court changed its tax collection to cash, which caused the price of silver to soar during a certain period of time, so many people sold their belongings in advance and saved silver.

"Then what?" Zhang Mu asked.

Chunxi continued to explain, "Everyone had silver in their hands, but when the evil spirit disaster came, the price of grain rose even more, and the silver became worthless."

"Before the demonic disaster, one tael of silver could buy three dan of rice, but now, one dan of rice costs three taels of silver, which is ten times the price."

"Fortunately, Madam bought enough food and rice early on, otherwise our escort agency would have suffered a huge loss this time."

"Didn't the imperial court provide disaster relief?" Zhang Mu asked curiously.

Even in the country before Zhang Mu traveled through time, there was a similar "Changping Granary" in ancient times, which was used to stabilize grain prices in years of disaster.

"I haven't heard of it." Chunxi shook his head. "The county warehouse did put some grain in, but Madam said that it wasn't even enough to fill a gap in their stomach."

"I heard the only good thing was that the magistrate wrote a petition requesting that Wan'an County's autumn tax be waived this time."

As the two were walking and talking, they saw another family being kicked out of their home. Several yamen runners were putting up seals on their house. The family was kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, and even their heads were bruised.

"Oh, another household..." Chunxi sighed.

"Sister Chunxi, what do you mean?" Zhang Mu asked in confusion.

Chunxi shook his head and said, "Many people in the county mortgaged their homes and land for cash in order to hoard more silver, hoping to make a profit when the price of silver rose. In the end, they didn't make any money, and now they can't even redeem their property."

Zhang Mu then remembered what the scholar had said before, that he hoped the people would not risk their fortunes to hoard silver, and his words actually came true.

"That's not right!" Zhang Mu suddenly realized, "If it's pledged for silver, then just return the silver."

Chunxi glanced at Zhang Mu and said, "Brother Mu, don't you have to pay interest on the money you mortgaged?"

"In order to attract people to mortgage their property, several pawnshops agreed that the interest would be paid in grain."

"At the time, it seemed like such a good deal that no one chose to pay with silver. But now, the interest on the grain is almost catching up to the principal."

“So, many families had their property confiscated because of this and ended up living on the streets.”

"This kind of thing is not new these days..."

"Alas, the world..."

Listening to Chunxi's sigh, Zhang Mu frowned.

Why did he smell such a strong sense of human intervention in this? Those pawnshops were backed by the county's wealthy families. Wouldn't it be difficult for them to hold a meeting and unify the mortgage regulations? Why would they compete and agree to pay the interest in grain?

What if they knew from the beginning that food prices were going to rise?
Did they know from the beginning that the demonic disaster was going to happen?
and many more!

Zhang Mu once again thought of the adult that the fox demon had mentioned before!

The fox demon said that many people would be buried with her. Could she be referring to this demon disaster?

Zhang Mu thought about it carefully. Who benefited from this disaster?

First of all, of course, it is those grain merchants who hoard grain. You know, what they are selling now at ten times the price are all old grains.

Then, there were the wealthy families who had initially lent silver to the people. After all, the mortgage price was only 70% of the market price. With grain expensive and silver cheap in Wan'an County, they almost instantly plundered the property of the middle-class families at a low price.

In addition to tax exemption, it seems to have reduced the burden on the people, but in fact it also removed the burden on the wealthy.

To use a sentence Zhang Mu had heard in his previous life: This is a suffering for the people and a carnival for capital.

So, who is the adult that the fox demon is talking about?

"Brother Mu, we're home." Just when Zhang Mu was still thinking, Chunxi's voice brought him back to his senses.

Zhang Mu raised his head and saw the gate of the escort agency. The four big words "Yuanwei Escort Agency" came into his sight, making Zhang Mu temporarily forget the trivial matters in his mind and smile.

"Yes, we're home." Zhang Mu nodded.

……

"You still know how to come back!"

In the flower hall, when Zhuang Xiaomeng saw Zhang Mu, she was no longer as intellectual and lazy as before, and started scolding him.

"I told you not to act rashly and think twice before you act. Why didn't you tell me before you left the city?"

"Do you know how dangerous it is out there when demonic disasters broke out a while ago?"

"You think you're so great, don't you?"

"Captain Song came looking for you, but he refused to enter the city and almost died outside!"

Listening to Zhuang Xiaomeng's barrage of questions, Zhang Mu lowered his head and waited for her to finish before saying, "Madam, I was wrong."

"Humph, you admit your mistake decisively, but you make the same mistake again next time, huh?" Zhuang Xiaomeng snorted, sat down angrily, and asked, "Where have you been all these days?"

Zhang Mu thought about it, but still didn't tell anyone about Qianyuan Village. He just said, "I was injured and was saved by a passing expert."

"Injured?" Zhuang Xiaomeng frowned. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"It's fine now." Zhang Mu nodded.

"You're lucky to have met a passing expert." Zhuang Xiaomeng nodded. "Although the demon disaster was repelled by the Yangye Realm expert from the prefectural city, there are still some dangers out there. Rest well for a few days and don't go out again."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mu responded and bowed before taking his leave.

Only after Zhang Mu left the flower hall did Zhuang Xiaomeng snort softly.

"A master passing by?"

"You're lying to children!"

However, Zhuang Xiaomeng only said this and did not intend to delve into it. Compared to this, the escort agency had more important things to do.

She picked up the letter in her hand and fell into deep thought...

(End of this chapter)